An open house is an important tool used by property sellers to increase interest in a property that is being sold, as well as used by potential buyers to gauge their own interest in a particular property. The property seller can increase the likelihood of the sale of the property, as well as the potential sale price, by maximizing the number of potential buyers that attend a particular open house. In order to increase attendance, the seller typically attempts to schedule the open house at a time during which buyers are most likely to be free to attend the open house. For example, the seller can assume that buyers are typically free on Sunday afternoons to attend an open house. However, such assumptions may not accurately reflect the marketplace and fails to account for other factors that can impact open house attendance. It is therefore difficult for the seller to determine an optimal time for scheduling the open house due to the limited information available to the seller.
In addition, a potential buyer who is interested in purchasing a property in a particular geographic area sometimes wants to visit multiple open houses in the geographic area. It is sometimes difficult for the potential buyer to determine which open houses to attend at which times so that the buyer can maximize use of his or her time.